The Effect of Rheumatoid Arthritis on Middle and Inner Ear Functions

Objective: To investigate the middle and inner ear functions, and efferent auditory systems in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Thirty-five RA patients and 40 control subjects participated in the study. Puretone audiometry, high-frequency audiometry, multifrequency tympanometry, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions, and contralateral suppression tests were administered to all participants. Results: Pure-tone hearing thresholds of RA patients were significantly higher at all frequencies except for 2000 Hz, 14,000 Hz, and 16,000 Hz in the right ear and 16,000 Hz in the left ear (p<0.05). Resonance frequency values of RA patients were statistically significantly lower than those of the control group (p<0.001). Emission amplitudes obtained with contralateral acoustic stimulation were significantly lower at 1400 Hz frequency in both groups than without contralateral acoustic stimulation (p<0.05). While contralateral suppression was observed at all frequencies in the control group, no suppression occurred at 2800 Hz and 4000 Hz in RA patients. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study demonstrated the presence of hearing dysfunction in patients with RA. When a patient is diagnosed with RA, an audiological evaluation should be made, and the patient should be informed about the possibility of audiological involvement.